That this young man may be being treated poorly is possible. I ran away at 8 for a bloody good reason. I was worried about my survival. Parents and certainly step parents can be monsters.

As far as I can see there are two obvious choices. 1, visit the authorities. But this entails its own problems. 2, run away.

I ran to the bush. But I had already learned how to hunt and fish. I was lucky. I also had a pristine country to escape within. And a slack government that never cared to chase me. This was 1972 Australia after all.

Were I to run away today I would call cattle stations and search out jackaroo positions where a live in position was offered. There must be something like this in the US.

In the case of over-protective parents that would be extreme, in the case of purely malicious parents, well, that is a different story.

Family should care for you, they don't, there was a baby found still alive half buried in a flower bed with its head in a plastic bag and umbilical cord still attached recently. Graphic I know, for that I'm sorry, but not all parents are saints.

In this particular case, I'd like to hear an angle other then Joey's before offering real advice, I don't doubt that he has serious issues, but kids exaggerate and kids tell their version of events which is often quite different from actual events, even if there is some truth to it.